A Saiyan Tail.
Part 14
Newspaper Madness.
Akane jogged through the light rain with a scowl on her face as she struggled to keep up with the energetic Ranma. He was currently in his female form and bouncing off the walls of Nerima excitedly as they ran from one neighborhood to the next delivering newspapers from door to door. "We aren't even halfway done yet?"
"Nope, we've still got about two hundred more houses to go," said Ranma with a thoughtful look about her.
The short haired girl growled and continued to struggle, Ranma was bouncing around like a ping pong ball with a three hundred pound pack strapped across his shoulders, so she sure couldn't complain much.
"Come on Akane, don't lag behind, we'll be late if you do!" cried the girl from a fair distance ahead of her.
Akane grit her teeth and pushed herself harder.
Shampoo was not happy, it was raining outside and she was resting under a covered sidewalk. Her search for the pigtailed girl had been fruitless so far. She shifted her position and leaned against the wall with a dissatisfied snort. "Arien is very hard to find."
After a few moments of sulking she pushed herself off the wall and started off again, her Amazon pride would not let her give up no matter what. She would find the girl if it killed her. As she walked out into the street something familiar caught her eye. A red mop of hair jogging cheerfully down the street on top of a nearby fence. "Airen!" She charged forward.
Ranma jumped up into the air just in time to see a purple blur sail over the fence she had been running on. A rather clumsy sounding splash erupted from the canal below and she paused for a moment before looking into the water to see the girl rising from the water with a disgusted look on her face.
"Shampoo? Are you all right?" asked the girl with a hint of worry in her voice.
Akane jogged up behind her fiancée and blinked. "Hey, it's that girl again."
Shampoo jumped between them and looked Akane up and down for a moment. "Why crazy girl still wear turtle shell on back?"
"Crazy girl?!" fumed Akane.
"My pop is training her," replied Ranma.
"Airen!" squealed Shampoo as she latched onto the girl's neck and squeezed.
"Hey! Cut that out! I told you I ain't into that stuff!" screamed Ranma as she attempted to push the girl away.
"Are you going to sit there and flirt with your girlfriend or are you going to help me?" snapped Akane with a hint of jealousy in her voice.
"Hey! I ain't askin her to do this!" retorted the girl.
"Wo ai ni!" giggled Shampoo happily as the redhead's attempts to dislodge her proved futile.
Akane huffed for a moment and continued to jog away in disgust, but not before she hit her fiancée over the head with a nearby mailbox.
"Girl very violent," commented Shampoo as she backed away for a moment.
"Aw man, don't tell me she's mad at me again," said the redhead with a dejected look on her face.
"Shampoo help!" chirped the Amazon. "Ranma go to date with Shampoo and violent girl no hit anymore!"
"Somehow I doubt if that will work," said the pigtailed girl with a small frown. "Sorry I can't stay Shampoo, but pop is counting on me to keep Akane on her training. I can't let him down."
The Amazon seemed to ponder this for a moment and shrugged her shoulders. "Then Shampoo help train crazy turtle shell girl."
"I don't see how you can help," said Ranma with a weak smile.
"Shampoo Amazon, is strongest fighters in world!" said the girl indignantly.
Ranma seemed to think about this for a moment. She desperately wanted to get away again, but running away was kind of out of the question right now. Or was it?
"Hey Shampoo, catch us if you can!"
The Amazon blinked as her beloved took off towards the shorthaired girl. "Airen!"
"Come on Akane! Move it, we can't let her catch us!" cried Ranma as he passed his student and disappeared over the next hill. Akane blinked and slowly turned to see Shampoo bearing down on her with a determined look on her face. She quickly tossed another paper into the next house and smirked.
Shampoo pushed herself hard and watched the pair in disbelief, despite the weight of their loads the pair were moving ahead of her at an alarming rate. "Bad!" She dashed forward and noticed something. The shorthaired girl was tossing something into the yards she ran by every few houses or so. She rushed up to the nearest one and saw a newspaper resting on a doorstep. "What? They is mocking Shampoo!" She charged forward with a new determination on her face and growled under her breath.
After about a half-hour, Ranma and Akane rushed up to the Tendo Dojo panting for breath.
"W...we made it!" gasped Akane.
"Yup, that Shampoo is just too slow for us!" agreed Ranma cheerfully. Her smile was short lived though as something smacked into Akane's face followed by something that Ranma dodged easily.
The pigtailed girl blinked and looked at the offending object. "A newspaper?"
"So, you think you outsmart Shampoo?" said a familiar voice from the wall above them. "I have all stupid newspapers right here!" The Amazon held up a bag and smirked at them.
"Hey! I worked hard to deliver those!" cried Akane.
"Shampoo no care! You no trick Shampoo this time!" said the girl smugly.
"I guess we have to start over then," said Ranma with a small sigh. "Come on Akane." The pigtailed girl slung a bag of papers over her shoulder and started back out the gates of the home.
"What? You mean I have to do this again?" screamed the girl in shock.
"Yup," said her fiancée simply.
Shampoo was standing on the wall looking at her hands and wondering how Ranma had gotten the bag away from her. She jumped down in front of the pair and smiled. "Shampoo no let go until Ranma take her to date!"
The Amazon girl was starting to really get on her nerves. Ranma sighed and turned to face her. She ripped the paper she had in her hands in two and smiled. "If you can deliver these papers faster than Akane, I'll go on a date with you."
Both girls blinked in surprise. "Ha, is to easy for warriors from Amazon village!" cried Shampoo.
"Well, we'd better get started then," said Ranma as he handed some of the papers to her along with half of the page. "These are the addresses, let's go Akane."
"Why should I?" snorted Akane.
"Because it's part of your training," said Ranma with a simple shrug.
"Maybe girl is scared of losing Shampoo?" taunted the Amazon cheerfully.
"There's no way I'm gonna lose to you!" cried the girl angrily as she pointed at the Amazon girl.
"You is no having choice!" cried Shampoo as she dashed into the streets.
Akane looked at the list in her hand and frowned. "Hey, my list is twice as long as hers!"
"You'd better get started then," said Ranma with a shrug of her shoulders. "Don't worry, I have faith in you!"
Akane glared at her for a moment and rushed out the gates closely followed by Shampoo.
The pair rushed side by side down the street glaring at each other angrily. Shampoo pulled a fruit stand out in front of Akane and frowned when the girl merely jumped over the obstacle.
"Is good," thought the Amazon as she fell into step beside her rival again.
Akane spared a glance at her opponent and frowned. The girl was keeping up with her, she had to pull ahead or she'd lose for sure. She grit her teeth and pushed harder gaining ground on the girl.
Shampoo frowned and managed to keep only a few feet behind the girl. She smirked and pulled out her bonbori. "Shampoo no lose!"
Akane turned and managed to block the weapon barely in time. She spun and put her arm up just in time, the round mace weapon connected solidly with her forearm and she grunted, but did not stop. She idly wondered why her arm wasn't broken as she pushed harder and managed to move ahead. She tossed the first of her deliveries over her head and smiled as it landed in place on the porch of the home.
Shampoo glared at her and started to toss her own deliveries aside. The Tendo girl was moving faster than she was and had managed to unload almost a fourth of her papers already. She smiled again and reached into her shirt.
Akane had a satisfied grin on her face as she tossed another paper into the next yard. "Ha! I've got you!" She stopped cold as something passed within inches of her face and almost fell on her face from the momentum. With a barely managed glance over her shoulder she found one of her newspapers embedded in a nearby wall by a small throwing knife. "She's fighting dirty!" She walked over to the paper and pulled it out before tossing it into the correct yard.
Shampoo smiled to herself, the lead she had now should be more than enough to beat the stubborn girl. She had to admit that she was very skilled, but she just didn't have what it took to win. She charged down the street with a dark smile on her face.
Akane glared at the girl and frowned as she vanished over the top of a hill into Nerima. "Fine, if that's how she wants to play it..."
Shampoo glanced down at her bag and saw the three remaining papers there. She had an almost joyous look on her face as she threw one of them into the designated yard and turned the next corner. She almost didn't notice the green and yellow blur that sailed over her head. "What that was?" Whatever it was it was moving at an amazing speed over the rooftops of the city. "It can't be!" She rushed forward and tossed the second to last paper into the next yard only to stop cold as Akane Tendo stood leaning against the gate with a satisfied looking smirk on her face.
"You want me to get that last one? I'm through with my route." She upended her bag to show the girl and waited patiently while the girl simply looked at her in shock.
"Is impossible! You cheat!" screamed Shampoo angrily.
"Oh yeah? He never said we had to run on the street! Besides, what would you call those knives?"
The girl glared at her angrily for a moment and turned away in disgust throwing her bag to the ground. "She is winning against Shampoo!" Briefly she considered the kiss of death. Fortunately this would not be considered combat in the village, she hung her head and turned away. "I no give up on Ranma."
Akane merely nodded in reply and started walking back towards her home. The girl was good, there was no denying that. Somehow she had managed to gain a little respect for the Amazon girl during the contest despite the underhanded things she had tried. "That's between you and her."
Shampoo nodded and started on her way again.
When she returned home Ranma was sitting on the porch smiling to himself proudly. He had already changed back into his male form. "You done good Akane!"
She blushed and nodded at the praise. "I can't believe how much stronger I've gotten."
"Well, I think pop will be proud of you when he gets back. Your dad too!" said the boy cheerfully.
"Yeah, I'll say," agreed a new voice from the inside the home.
Ranma whirled around with a huge grin on his face. "Uncle Krillin!"
The short bald man waved cheerfully as Kasumi led him into the living room. "Hey kid, how's it goin?"
"Great! Are you here to see pop?" asked the boy as he lifted the man off his feet in a rough hug.
"Uh, yeah. Is he here?"
"Sorry, he went to see Grandpa Happy and Grandpa Roshi," said the boy happily.
"Oh, well I guess I should go find him then. Something's up."
The boy got a worried look on his face and sat down. "Is it serious?"
"I'm afraid so," said the bald man seriously. "It seems Piccolo is back. He's been running around again, and something else..."
"That demon thing? I've heard stories about that," said Akane. She had been watching television until the conversation caught her attention.
"All of it true, I promise," said the man. "Ranma, someone beat Yamcha, it wasn't Piccolo either. He was using his style of fighting though."
The boy looked at the man in surprise. "What does that mean?"
"It could be they just use the same school, but somehow I doubt it. Piccolo's style is too distinctive, it's most likely that he's taken a student. That's probably why we haven't heard from him in a while. If that's true, your dad might not be able to handle it on his own. I'm getting everyone together real soon. We don't know when he's going to make his move, your dad will be a likely target I'm afraid."
The boy nodded at this. "I'll come with you."
"No, I need you here in case I miss him. You can tell him when he comes back. Don't worry, we can handle that demon now. He's not the only one who's been training you know."
Ranma smirked at this and nodded. "I guess you're right. I'd hate to miss it though."
"Somehow I doubt you will," said Krillin with a knowing smile. "Sorry I can't stay and visit, I've got to go warn your parents. I'll see you two later."
Akane raised her hand in a slight daze as she realized he was also speaking to her. "Thank you."
The man paused slightly and looked over his shoulder. "I heard about your sister, I'm sorry."
The two girls hung their heads slightly at this and said nothing.
"Don't worry though, we'll get her back. I promise you that." He walked out of the room and out of the home.
Akane turned towards Ranma and frowned. "Ranma, you don't think..."
"It could be him Akane, I don't know. I'm gonna have to go see Uncle Yamcha to be sure though. We'll go see him tomorrow."
The girl nodded in reply.
Ryoga Hibiki sat on the top of a mesa in the middle of the desert. The yellow cape and shoulder pads blew in the wind dramatically as he floated above the ground with his legs crossed under him. He was still dressed in his normal clothes otherwise with the exception of the weighed boots on his legs, and bracers on his arms. "Ranma Saotome, soon you will die!" he thought sternly as his features hardened. A whirlwind formed around him blowing debris around indiscriminately. After a moment a massive roar echoed across the valley as the wind ripped away from him at super sonic speed sending anything in the vicinity flying away into the distance. "I hope you're prepared, I want your death to be satisfying." He faltered in the air for a moment as another image of the girl's face appeared in his mind again. She was smiling at her sister just as she was the moment she died. "Fear me Ranma, I am beyond redemption now."
TBC...
Next time: Things start to heat up as the battle against Piccolo and his new student begins.
Part 14
Newspaper Madness.
Akane jogged through the light rain with a scowl on her face as she struggled to keep up with the energetic Ranma. He was currently in his female form and bouncing off the walls of Nerima excitedly as they ran from one neighborhood to the next delivering newspapers from door to door. "We aren't even halfway done yet?"
"Nope, we've still got about two hundred more houses to go," said Ranma with a thoughtful look about her.
The short haired girl growled and continued to struggle, Ranma was bouncing around like a ping pong ball with a three hundred pound pack strapped across his shoulders, so she sure couldn't complain much.
"Come on Akane, don't lag behind, we'll be late if you do!" cried the girl from a fair distance ahead of her.
Akane grit her teeth and pushed herself harder.
Shampoo was not happy, it was raining outside and she was resting under a covered sidewalk. Her search for the pigtailed girl had been fruitless so far. She shifted her position and leaned against the wall with a dissatisfied snort. "Arien is very hard to find."
After a few moments of sulking she pushed herself off the wall and started off again, her Amazon pride would not let her give up no matter what. She would find the girl if it killed her. As she walked out into the street something familiar caught her eye. A red mop of hair jogging cheerfully down the street on top of a nearby fence. "Airen!" She charged forward.
Ranma jumped up into the air just in time to see a purple blur sail over the fence she had been running on. A rather clumsy sounding splash erupted from the canal below and she paused for a moment before looking into the water to see the girl rising from the water with a disgusted look on her face.
"Shampoo? Are you all right?" asked the girl with a hint of worry in her voice.
Akane jogged up behind her fiancée and blinked. "Hey, it's that girl again."
Shampoo jumped between them and looked Akane up and down for a moment. "Why crazy girl still wear turtle shell on back?"
"Crazy girl?!" fumed Akane.
"My pop is training her," replied Ranma.
"Airen!" squealed Shampoo as she latched onto the girl's neck and squeezed.
"Hey! Cut that out! I told you I ain't into that stuff!" screamed Ranma as she attempted to push the girl away.
"Are you going to sit there and flirt with your girlfriend or are you going to help me?" snapped Akane with a hint of jealousy in her voice.
"Hey! I ain't askin her to do this!" retorted the girl.
"Wo ai ni!" giggled Shampoo happily as the redhead's attempts to dislodge her proved futile.
Akane huffed for a moment and continued to jog away in disgust, but not before she hit her fiancée over the head with a nearby mailbox.
"Girl very violent," commented Shampoo as she backed away for a moment.
"Aw man, don't tell me she's mad at me again," said the redhead with a dejected look on her face.
"Shampoo help!" chirped the Amazon. "Ranma go to date with Shampoo and violent girl no hit anymore!"
"Somehow I doubt if that will work," said the pigtailed girl with a small frown. "Sorry I can't stay Shampoo, but pop is counting on me to keep Akane on her training. I can't let him down."
The Amazon seemed to ponder this for a moment and shrugged her shoulders. "Then Shampoo help train crazy turtle shell girl."
"I don't see how you can help," said Ranma with a weak smile.
"Shampoo Amazon, is strongest fighters in world!" said the girl indignantly.
Ranma seemed to think about this for a moment. She desperately wanted to get away again, but running away was kind of out of the question right now. Or was it?
"Hey Shampoo, catch us if you can!"
The Amazon blinked as her beloved took off towards the shorthaired girl. "Airen!"
"Come on Akane! Move it, we can't let her catch us!" cried Ranma as he passed his student and disappeared over the next hill. Akane blinked and slowly turned to see Shampoo bearing down on her with a determined look on her face. She quickly tossed another paper into the next house and smirked.
Shampoo pushed herself hard and watched the pair in disbelief, despite the weight of their loads the pair were moving ahead of her at an alarming rate. "Bad!" She dashed forward and noticed something. The shorthaired girl was tossing something into the yards she ran by every few houses or so. She rushed up to the nearest one and saw a newspaper resting on a doorstep. "What? They is mocking Shampoo!" She charged forward with a new determination on her face and growled under her breath.
After about a half-hour, Ranma and Akane rushed up to the Tendo Dojo panting for breath.
"W...we made it!" gasped Akane.
"Yup, that Shampoo is just too slow for us!" agreed Ranma cheerfully. Her smile was short lived though as something smacked into Akane's face followed by something that Ranma dodged easily.
The pigtailed girl blinked and looked at the offending object. "A newspaper?"
"So, you think you outsmart Shampoo?" said a familiar voice from the wall above them. "I have all stupid newspapers right here!" The Amazon held up a bag and smirked at them.
"Hey! I worked hard to deliver those!" cried Akane.
"Shampoo no care! You no trick Shampoo this time!" said the girl smugly.
"I guess we have to start over then," said Ranma with a small sigh. "Come on Akane." The pigtailed girl slung a bag of papers over her shoulder and started back out the gates of the home.
"What? You mean I have to do this again?" screamed the girl in shock.
"Yup," said her fiancée simply.
Shampoo was standing on the wall looking at her hands and wondering how Ranma had gotten the bag away from her. She jumped down in front of the pair and smiled. "Shampoo no let go until Ranma take her to date!"
The Amazon girl was starting to really get on her nerves. Ranma sighed and turned to face her. She ripped the paper she had in her hands in two and smiled. "If you can deliver these papers faster than Akane, I'll go on a date with you."
Both girls blinked in surprise. "Ha, is to easy for warriors from Amazon village!" cried Shampoo.
"Well, we'd better get started then," said Ranma as he handed some of the papers to her along with half of the page. "These are the addresses, let's go Akane."
"Why should I?" snorted Akane.
"Because it's part of your training," said Ranma with a simple shrug.
"Maybe girl is scared of losing Shampoo?" taunted the Amazon cheerfully.
"There's no way I'm gonna lose to you!" cried the girl angrily as she pointed at the Amazon girl.
"You is no having choice!" cried Shampoo as she dashed into the streets.
Akane looked at the list in her hand and frowned. "Hey, my list is twice as long as hers!"
"You'd better get started then," said Ranma with a shrug of her shoulders. "Don't worry, I have faith in you!"
Akane glared at her for a moment and rushed out the gates closely followed by Shampoo.
The pair rushed side by side down the street glaring at each other angrily. Shampoo pulled a fruit stand out in front of Akane and frowned when the girl merely jumped over the obstacle.
"Is good," thought the Amazon as she fell into step beside her rival again.
Akane spared a glance at her opponent and frowned. The girl was keeping up with her, she had to pull ahead or she'd lose for sure. She grit her teeth and pushed harder gaining ground on the girl.
Shampoo frowned and managed to keep only a few feet behind the girl. She smirked and pulled out her bonbori. "Shampoo no lose!"
Akane turned and managed to block the weapon barely in time. She spun and put her arm up just in time, the round mace weapon connected solidly with her forearm and she grunted, but did not stop. She idly wondered why her arm wasn't broken as she pushed harder and managed to move ahead. She tossed the first of her deliveries over her head and smiled as it landed in place on the porch of the home.
Shampoo glared at her and started to toss her own deliveries aside. The Tendo girl was moving faster than she was and had managed to unload almost a fourth of her papers already. She smiled again and reached into her shirt.
Akane had a satisfied grin on her face as she tossed another paper into the next yard. "Ha! I've got you!" She stopped cold as something passed within inches of her face and almost fell on her face from the momentum. With a barely managed glance over her shoulder she found one of her newspapers embedded in a nearby wall by a small throwing knife. "She's fighting dirty!" She walked over to the paper and pulled it out before tossing it into the correct yard.
Shampoo smiled to herself, the lead she had now should be more than enough to beat the stubborn girl. She had to admit that she was very skilled, but she just didn't have what it took to win. She charged down the street with a dark smile on her face.
Akane glared at the girl and frowned as she vanished over the top of a hill into Nerima. "Fine, if that's how she wants to play it..."
Shampoo glanced down at her bag and saw the three remaining papers there. She had an almost joyous look on her face as she threw one of them into the designated yard and turned the next corner. She almost didn't notice the green and yellow blur that sailed over her head. "What that was?" Whatever it was it was moving at an amazing speed over the rooftops of the city. "It can't be!" She rushed forward and tossed the second to last paper into the next yard only to stop cold as Akane Tendo stood leaning against the gate with a satisfied looking smirk on her face.
"You want me to get that last one? I'm through with my route." She upended her bag to show the girl and waited patiently while the girl simply looked at her in shock.
"Is impossible! You cheat!" screamed Shampoo angrily.
"Oh yeah? He never said we had to run on the street! Besides, what would you call those knives?"
The girl glared at her angrily for a moment and turned away in disgust throwing her bag to the ground. "She is winning against Shampoo!" Briefly she considered the kiss of death. Fortunately this would not be considered combat in the village, she hung her head and turned away. "I no give up on Ranma."
Akane merely nodded in reply and started walking back towards her home. The girl was good, there was no denying that. Somehow she had managed to gain a little respect for the Amazon girl during the contest despite the underhanded things she had tried. "That's between you and her."
Shampoo nodded and started on her way again.
When she returned home Ranma was sitting on the porch smiling to himself proudly. He had already changed back into his male form. "You done good Akane!"
She blushed and nodded at the praise. "I can't believe how much stronger I've gotten."
"Well, I think pop will be proud of you when he gets back. Your dad too!" said the boy cheerfully.
"Yeah, I'll say," agreed a new voice from the inside the home.
Ranma whirled around with a huge grin on his face. "Uncle Krillin!"
The short bald man waved cheerfully as Kasumi led him into the living room. "Hey kid, how's it goin?"
"Great! Are you here to see pop?" asked the boy as he lifted the man off his feet in a rough hug.
"Uh, yeah. Is he here?"
"Sorry, he went to see Grandpa Happy and Grandpa Roshi," said the boy happily.
"Oh, well I guess I should go find him then. Something's up."
The boy got a worried look on his face and sat down. "Is it serious?"
"I'm afraid so," said the bald man seriously. "It seems Piccolo is back. He's been running around again, and something else..."
"That demon thing? I've heard stories about that," said Akane. She had been watching television until the conversation caught her attention.
"All of it true, I promise," said the man. "Ranma, someone beat Yamcha, it wasn't Piccolo either. He was using his style of fighting though."
The boy looked at the man in surprise. "What does that mean?"
"It could be they just use the same school, but somehow I doubt it. Piccolo's style is too distinctive, it's most likely that he's taken a student. That's probably why we haven't heard from him in a while. If that's true, your dad might not be able to handle it on his own. I'm getting everyone together real soon. We don't know when he's going to make his move, your dad will be a likely target I'm afraid."
The boy nodded at this. "I'll come with you."
"No, I need you here in case I miss him. You can tell him when he comes back. Don't worry, we can handle that demon now. He's not the only one who's been training you know."
Ranma smirked at this and nodded. "I guess you're right. I'd hate to miss it though."
"Somehow I doubt you will," said Krillin with a knowing smile. "Sorry I can't stay and visit, I've got to go warn your parents. I'll see you two later."
Akane raised her hand in a slight daze as she realized he was also speaking to her. "Thank you."
The man paused slightly and looked over his shoulder. "I heard about your sister, I'm sorry."
The two girls hung their heads slightly at this and said nothing.
"Don't worry though, we'll get her back. I promise you that." He walked out of the room and out of the home.
Akane turned towards Ranma and frowned. "Ranma, you don't think..."
"It could be him Akane, I don't know. I'm gonna have to go see Uncle Yamcha to be sure though. We'll go see him tomorrow."
The girl nodded in reply.
Ryoga Hibiki sat on the top of a mesa in the middle of the desert. The yellow cape and shoulder pads blew in the wind dramatically as he floated above the ground with his legs crossed under him. He was still dressed in his normal clothes otherwise with the exception of the weighed boots on his legs, and bracers on his arms. "Ranma Saotome, soon you will die!" he thought sternly as his features hardened. A whirlwind formed around him blowing debris around indiscriminately. After a moment a massive roar echoed across the valley as the wind ripped away from him at super sonic speed sending anything in the vicinity flying away into the distance. "I hope you're prepared, I want your death to be satisfying." He faltered in the air for a moment as another image of the girl's face appeared in his mind again. She was smiling at her sister just as she was the moment she died. "Fear me Ranma, I am beyond redemption now."
TBC...
Next time: Things start to heat up as the battle against Piccolo and his new student begins.